Adieu La Negra

Argentine folk singer Mercedes Sosa, who fought South America’s dictators with her voice and became a giant of contemporary Latin American music, died on Sunday at age 74, her family said in a statement…

Known affectionately as La Negra — ‘the Black One’ due to her dark hair and skin — Sosa was dubbed “the voice of the silent majority” for championing the poor and fighting for political freedom.

Her version of Violeta Parra’s “Gracias a la Vida” (“Thanks to Life”) became an anthem for leftists around the world in the 1970s and 1980s when she was forced into exile and her recordings were banned.